Drifting
by NotFlyingWithOtters
Summary: Post Adrift, my take on Janto fluff and cuteness after the episode.


**Okay, taking a couple days break from Bones fanfiction and writing a Torchwood one. This idea magically appeared in my brain whilst reading the "Torchwood Archives" book. Post Adrift, with my slight twist on Janto fluffiness.  
**

Captain Jack Harkness sat in his office, staring blankly at the wall in front of him as the mental images flashed through his mind. Ianto was standing behind him, his palm flat on Jack's shoulder as the older man tried not to shake.

'Sir?' The young Welshman's voice was troubled and seemed to crack with strain whilst Jack bit down hard on his bottom lip.

'Ianto please… drop the "sir".' Ianto began staring at the wall with Jack, tightening his grip on Jack's shoulder.

'I'm sorry.' Jack shook his head slowly, a clear indication of how unnecessary the apology was.

'It's ok.' Jack placed his hand on Ianto's and squeezed gently, his gun calloused hands scraping against Ianto's smooth skin. 'Go home Ianto. That's an order.' Jack suddenly blurted out, kissing Ianto's hand gently. 'Just go home tonight. I'll see you tomorrow.' Ianto stared at the wall and nodded.

'Goodnight Jack.' Jack nodded absent-mindedly.

'Goodnight, Ianto.' Jack waited for Ianto to leave and the sirens to die down from the cog moving and then stared at the wall for a while longer. He looked at the form that needed filling in and sighed sadly.

_**Alien Activity: **__None_

_**Alien Technology: **__None_

_**Rift Activity:**_

Jack paused, tapping his pen against his brilliantly white teeth.

'Where do I begin…?' Almost without his noticing his mind began to wander to Jonah on that island in the concrete bunkers. The rift could be so devastating. He wondered why he had sent Ianto home; his eyes were watering again and his chest felt queerly tight. He wanted to reach for his phone and call him, but he couldn't bring himself to burden Ianto with his own problems, with everything that had gone wrong during the time Gwen had started the missing persons case to when she had found out about the negative rift spikes with Tosh. He felt as if his mind was going to implode, this was one of the times when he needed The Doctor. _His _Doctor.

'First I'm going to kiss him, and then I'm going to kill him.' The mantra was running over and over in his head, almost as if it was a constant drumbeat. No, he would not think of The Master. Jack found himself climbing into his cubbyhole, the ceiling so low it could hardly be counted as a room, more of a hole. He crawled into the dark hole and lay back on the mattress, staring at the top of the room barely a few small inches from his nose. He was lonely, that much was true. He rolled onto his side and stared at the dense black wall of darkness in front of him, all the light swallowed up by his shadow. He closed his eyes for a moment, just for a moment, and then opened them again. Nothing had changed, the world hadn't stopped turning, and no major disaster was looming on the horizon. He wanted something to hold on to, his world was slipping from his grasp and his team was falling apart.

Owen was dead, walking… but dead all the same.

The world was silent.

Somehow he wished it would be louder.

**oOo**

Ianto Jones lay in his bed in his apartment, staring at the plain white ceiling. He tilted his wrist and looked at his watch, the LED dial showing him the time in France. He swore quietly and switched it back to English.

2:34 am.

He groaned in frustration at his insomnia and leaned back against his pillows, his mind unable to even process anything. He needed coffee. He stood up and made his way slowly to the kitchen, switching on his coffee machine. From his apartment kitchen window he could see the Roald Dahl Plass and beyond that, the water tower. He wondered idly if Jack was still there. Of course he was. Ianto switched off his coffee maker and stepped into his immaculate suit that he always wore on Fridays before taking a quick look in the mirror.

_Oh for God's sake Ianto! Get a grip; it's twenty to three in the morning. He's not going to care. _He thought to himself as he straightened his tie and ran a hand through his already immaculate hair. He left the apartment block and began a brisk walk to the tourist information office that was a front for Torchwood. The air inside the hub was always tinged with a faint trace of barbecue sauce for Myfanwy the Pterodactyl and salty water from the bay. The sirens were as loud as a scream as he entered, the lights blinding him from every angle. He ducked around and made it to the boardroom, sighing softly as he flicked the switch for the coffee machine and it hummed into life.

'Sir?' He received no answering call, so he tapped his comms. 'Sir, are you there?' There was a hiss of static before a weary voice answered him.

'Ianto.' Ianto was startled to notice that Jack's voice was rough, almost as if he'd been crying.

'Are you all right, sir?' There was no answer for a while. The thoughts of the previous week lay heavy on his mind. The rift and it's negative spikes that took things… people. The concrete bunkers… a kind of impromptu medical centre for the damned. The screaming… oh God the screaming. It was ringing in his ears still.

'No.' Jack's voice startled him from his thoughts and he leaned back against the boardroom table, his eyes catching sight of a figure's silhouette in Jack's office. Leaving the coffee machine to run, he made his way cautiously up the metal stairs to Jack's office. His boss, friend… lover… was sat at his desk, head in his hands, not even looking up when Ianto entered the room.

'Are you all right sir?' Ianto asked him again, almost expecting Jack to look up at him with the cold, empty eyes of a lost soul.

'Ianto, please, just drop the sir.' Ianto mentally berated himself.

'I'm sorry.' The conversation from earlier was repeating itself again, and Ianto felt a stab of sympathy for the man he had come to love.

'Don't be.' Jack almost moved but kept his face down, staring at the desk as gelled spikes of hair fell over his eyes. Ianto was at a loss as to what to do. So he did what came naturally to him.

'Coffee?' Jack looked up at that, almost smiling but not quite, the ghost of a smile wavering on his lips.

'Sure.' The American tones washed over Ianto like the waves in the bay as he struggled to stop himself from vaulting over the desk and holding onto Jack as tight as he could, for as long as he could. He gave a curt nod and left, the coffee machine warm and the small red light telling him it was ready to do its duty, create the most amazing elixir known to man – at least in Ianto's opinion anyway. After the brown stream of wonderful smelling liquid had been expelled from the tube and into two cups, Ianto carefully climbed the stairs. Jack was as he had left him. Vacant.

'Jack?' Jack didn't look up, didn't even move that much apart from an involuntary twitch of his wrist as Ianto set down the coffee cup. 'Talk to me.' Ianto sat down opposite Jack and took a sip of the coffee, the steam rising in wispy grey tendrils in front of his face. Jack looked up, his face pale and wan, with a few red blotches where Ianto just knew he'd been crying.

'What's to talk about Ianto?' Jack's voice was cracked and hoarse, yet somehow resigned.

'I don't know.' They sat in silence again for a while, Jack staring blankly past Ianto, occasionally brining the mug to his lips with a trembling hand. 'What you did, Jack… you did it to protect them. I don't blame you or hate you.' Jack focussed his eyes on Ianto.

'You mean that?' His eyes were clouded with grief and Ianto nodded, placing his hand on his boss' arm again.

'I mean it.' Jack abandoned his coffee and leaned over the desk, placing his hands hard on Ianto's shoulders.

'Thank you.' His kissed him briefly. Ianto shrugged, his skin tingling where Jack had placed his hands a few moments earlier.

'It's ok.' Jack sighed once and then stood up, heading for his cubbyhole.

'Where are you going?' Ianto asked him after a moment. Jack touched his hand.

'Where you can be with me. No questions asked.' There was barely enough room for one in there, but they both stripped down and crawled inside, holding tightly to one another as the hours slowly ticked by. As Jack finally began to sleep, still clinging to Ianto's forearms, Ianto's breath ruffling his hair, he uttered words that made Ianto's heart skip a beat.

'I wish I was mortal…'

_**Other staff issues: **__..._

**It has to be said, I cried when I wrote this... Sorry... I hope you enjoy it.**

**Reviews make me happy (:  
**


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